Routine + System = Results
These days, I run the same route almost every day. The run coach part of my brain grimaces as I type these words. The runner in me, though, needs this. It’s comforting. Decision fatigue is eliminated. It’s efficient, which is important when marathon training. And there are very few stoplights!
About minute 35 into my run, I stop at this spot and I take this photo.
My camera roll from the past few months is filled with these almost-identical looking photos. It’s become a most enjoyable part of my recent running routine, to stand on the littlest beach in Marsha P. Johnson State Park, and enjoy the water for a moment before I plod along into Greenpoint.
This routine is now part of my larger system known as marathon training. I never thought much about the difference between routines and systems until earlier this year, when my friend Coach Annick dropped this nugget of wisdom on me:
“You fail to the level of your systems versus rise to the aspirations of your goals.”
When I heard it, it was like the world’s largest tuning fork went off in my head. I then asked her to please repeat that 108 more times because it made so much sense. And I wondered: does my running have a routine? Or do I have running system? And what’s the difference between the two?
Here’s what I’ve come up with. Remember, when I share nuggets from my brain they may land for you or they may not! Take what works and resonates for YOU and leave the rest.
My running system:
Has a clear beginning - middle - end to the process. This is easy when training for a race: the race date drives the start - middle - end.
There’s a goal - in my case, it’s to run a marathon on a particular date.
There’s a clear path to the goal. The training plan provides the path, with how each day and each week builds on the one before it.
The path is supported by a clear philosophy. My training plan started with a lot of very easy aerobic miles, allowing me to build volume, before adding in any other load or stimulus.
The system anticipates bumps in the road, like needing a day off because of a sniffle or a family obligation.
Systems are great - on paper. The most brilliant system is academic without connecting it to the act of the daily routine. That’s where systems shine, when coupled with routine.
Has mental and emotional buy in! I believe in the system to best position me to achieve the desired result on race day.
Marathon training feels more systematic to me than my daily running. And it should - my running needed more structure because I am looking to produce specific results on a specific day. I feel like the system created by my run plan for marathon training signals to me that it’s time to shift gears, get myself into a different headspace and heartspace to increase the running load.
Why we need both system AND routine
The system doesn’t work unless I actually DO the running prescribed by my plan. This is where the power of routine makes the system come alive. Routine is about daily execution of the system. I have run and engaged in all the things that support my running: strength training, sleep, recovery, nutrition, positive mental attitude, etc.
Routine + system = result
It’s possible to have a system and no routine. Or a routine and no system.
Here’s a completely ficticious example of a system with no routine:
A runner commits to a training plan, but is unable to - for whatever reason - commit the time and energy to the running and all the things that come with healthy running (sleep, recovery, nutrition, positive mental energy, etc). At the end of the week, when I open up Training Peaks, their week looks like a rainbow - a sea of yellow, green, red, and orange boxes.
Here’s an example of a routine with no system:
A runner gets up three mornings a week to meet their run club. They use the power of the group to train, versus individualizing their plan. Many times, said runner will hop into another runner’s workout, because why not! It’s great they are running, but there’s no systematic approach to their running. Without a systematic approach, their running won’t produce a specific result.
We can shore up our systems AND routines. That way, there’s clarity on what’s system, what’s routine, and how they can support each other in the best way possible.
Integrating our systems and routine is important so we:
Do NOT change the goalposts on ourselves. (This is one of my favorite newsletters that I ever wrote, it’s due for an update - coming soon.) Powerful goals are important, but powerful systems and routines that position us to achieve those goals are even more important. And when we’re in the system and routine where we’re chasing said goal, WE DO NOT CHANGE THE GOALPOST mid workout, mid race, mid training cycle.
Get to the start line integrated in mind, body, and heart. Our training processes have to train all three in tandem. I know that, at some point on that looped course in Jersey City on April 23rd, I will be faced with my biggest adversary and that’s ME. I better have the toolbox to put my nuts away when I get all squirrely on myself. Also, our bodies responds to what we think, how we think - the more we learn about how the brain body connection works, the more we understand how powerful the mind is. Of course, we can’t will ourselves to a certain time if we haven’t done the training, but we can have our mind be an ally versus a foe out there.
Can weather the normal ups and downs that happen in training. I use the word normalize with my runners and training clients A LOT these days. I get to see the inner workings of a lot of people’s process and you only see the inner workings of yours. We all have good days, bad days, meh days when training or running - that’s normal. Systems and routine keep us moving forward so we don’t spin out on emotional black ice when we have a bad day.
Manage our load - and ALL of our loads. We are all busy people! Load is load. Remember, the body doesn’t know if it’s load from a big emotional adult thing you’ve got going on, or a hard workout, or a busy work week. When we stick with systems and routines, we have a better chance of maintaining our barriers and boundaries. (Remember, boundaries let in light and air. For some of us, the littlest bit in is too much - which is why we need barriers instead.)
Continue to pray at the altar of almighty consistency. Running responds to consistency over a very, very long period of time. While my race is relatively important to me, it’s more important to me that I keep consistently running all 12 months this year. Training for this race helps me do that, but I also want to run AFTER the race is over. It’s good when our running is a little boring! That means it’s going well.
As always, we want our running - whether we are training for a race or running as part of our daily life - to be sustainable and nourishing. My reflections on systems versus routines made me realize: it’s not the faith in the running itself we need to keep. It’s the faith in the systems and routines that get us out the door each day. If we tend to those, lots of happy miles can follow.